Gaming Laptop

Alex53 · 15 Oct 2010 at 14:28

Looking at getting a gaming laptop.

I do web design, photo editing, e-mail, browsing, all the usual things, and on the gaming side I play Lord of the Rings Online almost exclusively and looking at getting Civ5, so nothing cutting edge.

The MSI GX660 looks great and is very well priced for the spec. The only problem is availability is a bit lacking, its only on pre-order and even then, after reading the thread on this forum it looks like I might find I have to wait for the next batch after ordering because of the high demand.

Thats a real problem as the reason I am getting a laptop is re-decorating of my living room during this week, and the desktop PC has to go for the next few months. So I dont want to sit waiting for weeks for the laptop.

Any plausible alternatives?

ro55o · 15 Oct 2010 at 14:42

For the money, the GX660 can't be beat on spec. But like you said availability is poor (I've been waiting 2 weeks and have about another 2 to wait). The GT640 is a good alternative, while the graphics card isn't really up to the 660's, it should be more than enough to cope with the games you plan on playing. The CPU is more powerful in the 640 as well.

At the moment the prices MSI are coming out with can't be matched, you need to spend a good couple of hundred more to even come close to the specs. There are some points being made about the build quality and the keyboards on some, but I think for the price they look pretty good (Not in the aesthetic term

).

Alex53 · 15 Oct 2010 at 15:16

Yeah, seriously considering the GT640. Would get it soon, its cheaper, and it looks like it fits my needs. That said, I'd like to see some confirmation somewhere that an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M 1GB will run LOTRO reasonably.

ro55o · 15 Oct 2010 at 16:05

I was considering it as well, the graphics card is a weak point on it, but so long as it's not graphically intensive games then you should be okay. This website gives a good comparison on mobile GPU's and laptops in general, gives an idea of how the 250 will perform

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTS-250M.17669.0.html

and an actual review on the laptop itself

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-MSI-GT640-Gaming-Notebook.23063.0.html

Seems to be able to run most games at medium to high level at it's native resolution.

Alex53 · 16 Oct 2010 at 09:50

I've gone for the MSI GT640.

The price is reasonable, the performance is more than enough to play LOTRO reasonably and do the other stuff I do, and I dont really fancy being computer-less for 2+ weeks and paying £130 more to not really make the best of the GX660 by not playing more demanding games anyway.